Search results for " motor control"

Vibration effect on ball score test in international vs. national level table tennis

2018

In table tennis, motor skills are crucial for discriminating player level. However, there is a dearth of studies exploring the impact of a vibrational stimulus on performance. Thirty-four male players (age 25 +/- 2 years ; body mass index, BMI 23.4 +/- 1.2 kg.m(-2)) participated in the study. Seventeen played at international level (IL), while the remaining 17 played at national level (NL). The participants underwent a ball-handling test, the ball score, before (PRE) and after (POST) a vibrational stimulus. Intra-class correlation (ICC) for the ball score result showed good reliability (ICC 0.87 for IL and 0.80 for NL). Repeated measures ANOVA showed differences between groups for ball scor…

Innovative Observers for Induction Motor Control

In this thesis the problem of designing observers and controllers for induction motors has been studied and thoroughly discussed using tools from the nonlinear system theory, both for analysis and control purposes. Useful techniques have been used to identify the machine parameters off-line. In the Introduction was dealt the design a control system for a drive of asynchronous machines that uses a voltage source inverter to generate the currents and voltages which carry the drive by making use of an observer of the state rotor variables. The used control algorithms is the \textit{field oriented control} (FOC). The model of the asynchronous induction motor is described starting from the mecha…

Descriptor-type Kalman Filter and TLS EXIN Speed Estimate for Sensorless Control of a Linear Induction Motor.

2014

This paper proposes a speed observer for linear induction motors (LIMs), which is composed of two parts: 1) a linear Kalman filter (KF) for the online estimation of the inductor currents and induced part flux linkage components; and 2) a speed estimator based on the total least squares (TLS) EXIN neuron. The TLS estimator receives as inputs the state variables, estimated by the KF, and provides as output the LIM linear speed, which is fed back to the KF and the control system. The KF is based on the classic space-vector model of the rotating induction machine. The end effects of the LIMs have been considered an uncertainty treated by the KF. The TLS EXIN neuron has been used to compute, in …

Spoken Language Development and the Challenge of Skill Integration

2019

The development of phonological awareness, the knowledge of the structural combinatoriality of a language, has been widely investigated in relation to reading (dis)ability across languages. However, the extent to which knowledge of phonemic units may interact with spoken language organization in (transparent) alphabetical languages has hardly been investigated. The present study examined whether phonemic awareness correlates with coarticulation degree, commonly used as a metric for estimating the size of children's production units. A speech production task was designed to test for developmental differences in intra-syllabic coarticulation degree in 41 German children from 4 to 7 years of a…

Action simulation in the human brain: Twelve questions

2013

Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and robotics, many aspects of the simulative processes remain unclear from empirical, computational, and neural perspectives. In the first part of the article, we provide a critical review and assessment of action simulation theories advanced so far in the wider literature of embodied and motor cognition. We focus our analysis on twelve key questions, and discuss them in the context of human and (occasionally) primate studies. In the second part of the article, we describe an integrative neuro-computational account of action simulation, which links the neural substrate (as revealed in neuroimaging …

Spoken Language Development and the Challenge of Skill Integration

2019

The development of phonological awareness, the knowledge of the structural combinatoriality of a language, has been widely investigated in relation to reading (dis)ability across languages. However, the extent to which knowledge of phonemic units may interact with spoken language organization in (transparent) alphabetical languages has hardly been investigated. The present study examined whether phonemic awareness correlates with coarticulation degree, commonly used as a metric for estimating the size of children’s production units. A speech production task was designed to test for developmental differences in intra-syllabic coarticulation degree in 41 German children from 4 to 7 years of a…

Motor and cognitive development: the role of karate

2014

Background: regular physical activity has an effect on biological responses in both muscles and organs that, in turn, alter the structure and functions of the brain. Therefore, this study aims at comparing motor (sprint, coordination ability and explosive legs strength skills) and cognitive abilities (working memory, attention, executive functioning) in children. Methods: 39 children with average chronological age of 9 years were divided in: Karatekas (n=19) and Sedentary (n=20) groups. Their abilities were measured by motor and cognitive tests. Motor skills were assessed through a battery composed by the 20 mt Sprint test, the Agility test and the Standing board jump Test. Cognitive profil…